VITO RIZZUTO: Known as Montreal’s Teflon Don, the Canadian Mafia boss, currently imprisoned in the United States, and his family opened accounts with UBS and Credit Suisse in the 1980s. One account opened by his mother Libertina, which named Vito as a proxy for the account, was called “El Tigre.” Mr. Rizutto, right, is due to be released in 2012, but still faces an arrest warrant in Italy. (RYAN REMIORZ)

VITO RIZZUTO: Known as Montreal’s Teflon Don, the Canadian Mafia boss, currently imprisoned in the United States, and his family opened accounts with UBS and Credit Suisse in the 1980s. One account opened by his mother Libertina, which named Vito as a proxy for the account, was called “El Tigre.” Mr. Rizutto, right, is due to be released in 2012, but still faces an arrest warrant in Italy.(RYAN REMIORZ)

Canadian crime boss Vito Rizzuto to get early release from U.S. jail
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The presumed boss of the Sicilian Mafia in Montreal will be released from a U.S. prison next month after serving part of a 10-year term stemming from the killing of three rival mobsters, a government agency said Tuesday.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said Vito Rizzuto, 66, will be getting out Oct. 6 after serving five years behind bars in a high security prison in Colorado, but did not state the reason why.

Visitors come and go during a visitation for Nicolo Rizzuto at a funeral home in Montreal, Sunday, November 14, 2010. The Mafia don was gunned down in his home on Wednesday in front of his wife and daughter.
Peter McCabe/The Canadian Press

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It was not immediately clear, however, if U.S. immigration authorities will allow Mr. Rizzuto to return immediately to Canada, a Justice Department said. His return could re-ignite a battle between the Rizzutos and rivals from the Calabrian mafia.

Mr. Rizzuto was arrested in Canada in 2004 and extradited to the United States in 2006, then convicted a year later for his role in the 1981 murder of three Bonanno crime family members in New York City.

He pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder, and was fined $250,000.

He had appealed in vain several times previously for early release, the last time in August.